Jason Kline, Head Coach
5th Season
jason.kline@park.edu

Jason Kline is in his fifth season as the sideline general of the Park men's basketball program, claiming two NAIA Division I Coach of the Year honors and one trip to the NAIA Sweet 16 in the 2006-07 season.

In 2008-09, Kline had the Pirates within a game of playing for the 2009 NAIA Division I Independent Tournament title, falling in the semifinals to Crichton at Tullis Arena in Orangeburg, S.C.

The 2008-09 season also marked the second-straight 16-win campaign for the Pirates, who finished 16-14 with two Daktronics-NAIA Scholar Athletes and one All-American in Jon Meriweather, who was named to the NAIA's Second Team as well as the Preseason First Team distributed by Basketball Times. On Senior Day, the Pirates made it three-straight seasons with a win over crosstown rival Rockhurst University, drumming the Hawks 79-58. In all, Park beat two NCAA Division II opponents and took another to the wire, testing NCAA Division II power Southwest Baptist in late November.

Park played 23 of its 30 games on the season against NCAA Division II and ranked NAIA opponents, posting eight wins over ranked NAIA opponents, including six wins over teams who advanced to NAIA national tournaments.

Included in the national-tournament victories were wins over the runner up in NAIA Division I, Columbia, a Division I semifinalist, MidAmerica Nazarene, and a Division I quarterfinalist, McKendree. The Pirates also beat the runners-up in NAIA Division II basketball, College of the Ozarks, splitting the season series with both NAIA men's basketball runners-up in 2008-09.

Kline posted 16 wins in the 2007-08 season, advancing to the semifinals of the 2008 NAIA Independent Region Tournament in Orangeburg, S.C. Kline also coached an All-American who was also named NAIA Player of the Week at Park for the second-straight year in 2007-08, as Meriweather earned three All-America distinctions as well as two national weekly honors in 2007-08.

In 2006-07, Brandon Voorhees was named to the All-America squad in addition to earning national player of the week honors, also being named Basketball Times Co-Player of the Year at the close of the season.

Kline is 52-41 (.559) in four seasons with the Pirates, including a 26-6 mark in 2006-07, the same year he took the Pirates to the NAIA Sweet 16 at Kansas City’s Municipal Auditorium. The tournament trip was the third in school history for the Pirates and marked the second-longest run in the tournament for a Park University squad.

During the 2007-08 season, Park also had wins over metro-area rival William Jewell, which was preceded by a come-from-behind victory over nationally ranked McKendree at Breckon Sports Center.

In addition to Meriweather’s All-American distinctions, Kline’s 2007-08 squad also produced three Daktronics-NAIA Scholar Athletes, as Ben Wallis, Michael Zimmerman and Deron Cherry II were named Academic All-Americans by the NAIA, running his total at Park to six nationally recognized student-athletes with academic honors.

The 2006-07 season marked one of the greatest single-season turnarounds in NAIA Men’s Basketball History, as the Pirates went from a 10-22 record in 2005-06 to an .813 winning percentage during the NAIA tournament run. In addition to the turnaround and tournament appearance, Park also recorded its first win over an NCAA Division I school under Kline’s watch – a 103-99 exhibition triumph over UMKC in November.

Kline came to Park after seven successful seasons at Indiana Tech University in Fort Wayne, Ind., where he led the Warriors to a 140-84 record during his tenure. In 2004-05, he guided Indiana Tech to a school record 29 wins (eight losses) and the school’s second straight NAIA Division II National Tournament appearance, advancing to the Elite Eight.

Over his last three seasons at Indiana Tech, Kline’s teams averaged over 26 wins per year. In each of the last four seasons, his teams finished the regular season in the top 35 of the final NAIA Division II Men’s Basketball ratings, including a ranking of eighth in 2003-04 and 15th in 2004-05. Academically, Kline’s players had a graduation rate of 91.4 percent at Tech.

Kline, who was named the WHAC (Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference) Coach of the Year in 2003-04, led Indiana Tech to a regular season conference title in 2003-04 and to the WHAC Tournament Championship in 2004-05.

Individually, Kline’s players have accumulated a multitude of honors. Seventeen student-athletes have been named NAIA All-America Scholar Athletes under Kline, while 13 have earned athletic All-America honors. Fifty-one players have been tabbed Academic All-Conference honorees, along with 27 All-Conference performers.

Kline, who has an overall coaching record of 192-125 over 10 seasons, started his coaching career as an assistant at Indiana Tech from 1993-95, where he earned his undergraduate degree in business administration in 1994.

Kline then spent three seasons as an assistant coach at Kansas Wesleyan University, in Salina, Kan., which is where he completed his M.B.A. in 1998. He and his wife, Jolina, a former women’s basketball student-athlete at Kansas Wesleyan, have two sons, Jacob and Jackson.

Gordon Stubblefield, Assistant Coach
5th Season

Gordon Stubblefield is in his fifth season as an assistant men’s basketball coach at Park University after also playing a season for head coach Jason Kline at Indiana Tech. Stubblefield played one season under current Park Head Coach Jason Kline at Indiana Tech University in 1998-99, earning All-America honors.

A 1999 graduate of Indiana Tech with a bachelor’s degree in business management, Stubblefield currently works for the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependants.